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An unrepentant murderer who shot his partner’s young daughter at point-blank range and then stuffed her body into a barrel has been sentenced to life in prison.

Justin Stein, 33, sat in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday afternoon where he learned he will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after being found guilty by a jury of the murder of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten earlier this year.

Imposing a life sentence, Judge Helen Wilson said Stein had lied to his former fiancée Kallista Mutten, pretended to be looking for Charlise while preparing to dispose of her body, committed perjury when he lied on the witness box, shown no remorse or remorse and his prospects for rehabilitation were bleak.

Stein killed Charlise on his family’s Mount Wilson property in early 2022 before wrapping her body and dumping it in a barrel near the Colo River.

Charlise had been living with her grandparents in Tweed Heads and travelled to Sydney a few days before Christmas 2021 to spend the holidays with her mother.

It is not known exactly when Stein killed the young girl, but the court concluded that he murdered her sometime within a 14 or 15 hour period between the evening of January 11 and the morning of January 12, 2022.

Prosecutor Ken McKay SC had called for a life sentence for Stein. The court heard the young girl turned to flee when she was shot in the hip and fell to the ground before Stein shot the helpless girl in the face at point blank range.

Stein had claimed that he saw Ms Mutten shoot her daughter on his family’s property in the Blue Mountains on the night of January 12.

However, this story was refuted by Ms Mutten during her testimony and was also ignored by the jury.

Judge Wilson said on Monday that Stein shed crocodile tears during his evidence when he falsely claimed he saw Charlise being murdered by Ms Mutten.

The court was told that Stein appeared to have been crying during his testimony and dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.

But Judge Wilson said in her verdict on Monday that he had “not shed a single tear” and described the handkerchief as a “prop”.

“From my position, just a few feet from the witness box, I could see very clearly that the perpetrator had completely dry eyes, despite his signs of distress,” said Judge Wilson.

It was one of many lies Stein told.

The court was told that Stein had claimed Charlise woke up on the morning of January 12 and was “vomiting everywhere” before he left her in the care of an auctioneer.

At the time of Charlise’s death, Ms. Mutten was staying at Stein’s trailer in Lower Portland, a 90-minute drive away.

On January 12, Stein picked up Ms Mutten and drove to Sydney, where they took drugs and had sex in Centennial Park. When they returned to Mount Wilson at 8.44pm, they found the house empty.

After the murder, Stein also sent messages to Ms. Mutten and his mother claiming to be looking for Charlise, who he believed might have been kidnapped by his former criminal accomplices.

Instead, he drove around Sydney looking for places to dispose of her body, which was stuffed into a barrel in the back of his pickup truck.

“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the perpetrator shot Charlise in the face at close range as the two stood facing each other,” said Judge Wilson.

She said the shot in Charlise’s face was fired from about a foot away and amounted to an “execution.”

Judge Wilson called Stein’s actions “unspeakably evil,” noting that the nine-year-old girl called him “daddy” and hoped he would be the father she never had.

However, she said Stein’s motive remained unclear.

In addition, there were unresolved details of the crime, including that Charlise’s underwear was missing when her body was discovered.

“When her body was recovered on January 18, 2022, Charlise was wearing the same clothes her mother had last seen her in, with the exception of her underpants, which were missing,” Judge Wilson said.

Charlise was also found to have quetiapine, Mr Stein’s schizophrenic medication, in her system.

But Judge Wilson said it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Stein had given her the drug.

Charlise was reported missing on the morning of January 14 and her body was discovered on January 18 before Stein was arrested later that day.

Stein’s DNA was found on a rifle that police found hidden along a fire trail.

The court was told the weapons were found by a hiker on a firebreak near the Mount Wilson property, buried under a pile of sticks and wrapped in a blue tarpaulin.

During the trial, the court was told that the rifle used in the murder was stolen by Stein and Ms Mutten when they broke into another home in Mount Wilson in August 2021.

Judge Wilson called Stein’s attempt to blame his partner for the shooting “cowardly” and noted that he had expressed no remorse or remorse.

She also described him as someone who “lacks the humanity, morality or self-control that would deter others from criminal acts of violence.”

On Monday afternoon, Stein sat silently and emotionlessly as he was told he would spend the rest of his life in prison, occasionally scratching his ear during the hour-and-a-half-long sentencing hearing.

“This was a shockingly cruel and utterly heinous crime; it was deeply reprehensible and utterly despicable,” said Judge Wilson.

“There are no facts that could mitigate the severity of the situation.”